Stygian War
by BlackCoat13
Summary: OC Universe. The Great War between the Witches against the Stygian Hall Superior has raged for centuries. When they last forged a truce, it was to defeat the powerful Kishin, Asura. But the moment Asura was dead and gone the Death God Pluto betrayed the Witches and slaughtered as many as he could, further fanning the flames of war. Now both sides scramble to begin a new fight.
1. Running of the Warriors

**Stygian Hall Superior**

**Chapter One: The running of the warriors**

**(You should be warned, though the characters may occasionally be close parallels or total opposites of the original characters, none of the real cast will be in this story)**

Revan ducked under the tree root, grabbing Adan's arm and pulling him down out of sight. They'd come so far! No way was he going to let the witches catch them now, nor could he let them be caught by Stygian students! Male or not, the Students would only waste a moment to try and kill the two teens if they were discovered. Not an ideal situation, considering the witches intense search swept them closer to Stygian Hall lower, (The city), and Stygian Hall Superior (The School, home of Meisters and Weapons). Still, the witches were persistent. They'd chased the two boys here all the way across the country. From their origin in the east, to the northern border, which they followed until the hit the middle of the country. From there they'd headed south again, and then had been pushed west. Now here they were. Knocking on Death's Door.

Revan doubted that their hated enemy would be a gracious host. At least he didn't know they were here, unlike the witches. Adan held his nose aloft into the air. His two cat ears danced individually along his enchanted cloak. Under the hood, Adan's slit eyes searched the forest around them, and his nose sniffed constantly, searching for scents. Revan observed his travelling complain for a moment before turning his own eyes skyward. His sharp eyes picked out every leaf on the tree above him. The sky was a clear blue, and a few white clouds floated freely without a care in the world. Revan wished fervently that he could launch from the forest, stop skulking around like vermin and instead, soar in his home element. But no. He had to keep the stupid idiot next to him. Without Revan, Adan would get himself killed in a week, or caught in less time.

"No movement," Adan whispered softly, having waited until the breeze picked up a little to speak.

"Then they're watching us," Revan quickly announced, twisting and turning his head in unusually jerky movements. He liked to observe with the side of his head, rather than both eyes on one target. Adan continued to sniff and listen, the cloth ears on his hood swiveling and twitching like living flesh. Revan glanced skywards again. It wasn't like the witches to wait on an attack or capture attempt. He'd lost track how many times the witches had switched from kill commands to capture orders for the two. It all depended on how well their research came along. Silently and personally, Revan hoped that their research went well, even if it meant their deaths. Maybe better that way. At the very least, it meant the witches came to kill them, rather than capture. They'd get swift deaths, rather than slow, agonizing, draw out ones. Experiments that made souls shiver and tremor, eyes dance wide in their sockets, scream rip from throats and

"No," Revan chastised himself. Adan glanced at him but said nothing. They'd no doubt been having the same thoughts. Revan cocked his head away from Adan. The witches didn't normally wait like this. By now they should be here, attacking from every direction. It wasn't like them to wait, at all. But latterly, they had been getting craftier… Maybe their experiments _were_ going badly. He'd ask if he got the chance. The witches would want them to know, no doubt another demoralization tactic.

"Caw!" A crow deep in the forest let ring. Revan and Adan's heads both snapped in that direction, four eyes focusing onto the source of the call.

"What does that idiot think he's doing?" Revan hissed. Adan slid a gloved hand over Revan's mouth as they hid deeper into the shadows of the tree.

"It's a gamble," Adan told Revan simply as he glanced about. He didn't know whether he wanted the witches around them to fall for it or not. Either option was horrible to consider.

The shadows around them seemed to shift. Elongate, distort. Slowly, the dark forms withdrew. Another caw rent the unnatural silence, and all at once the forest was aflame with movement. Three forms shot in the direction of the cawing crow, and before Adan could restrain Revan, the older boy had burst forwards with a horrified cry.

Revan leapt straight out of Adan's grip, the claws on Adan's glove accidently ripping into his right cheek as the darker boy leapt straight into the tree branches and dashed forwards after the retreating shadows. Adan was after him a moment later. A sharp whistle split the air and suddenly the two boys were surrounded by animals. But the two crows and the pure white cat hurried along after them with as much haste and speed as they could, they too fearing for their masters and comrade. The solitary repetitive caws quickly became more often, then shifted into a loud air splitting screeching squawk.

The terrified crow cawing and squawking increased in volume, and Revan sped up until he could feel him joints breaking. He'd never _moved_ this fast. He navigated the upper levels of the forest in a way unnatural to humans, leaping from branches to tree tops and onto branches that simply should not support his weight, but miraculously did. Adan on the other hand, could not move as fast as Revan, and had to take safer slower routes along the tree tops.

And all at once Revan stopped, the tree top he had just landed on bending under his weight only a fraction. A moment or two later and Adan arrived, and took a moment or two more to leap up as close as he could to his speedy friend. Revan stood on the tree top, staring into the direction the crowing and cawing was coming from. Adan opened his mouth to pose a question, but Revan held up his hand to stop him.

"It's divide and conquer. They're going after Alem, and it's what he wants. But if we try to save him, the witches get us, and we'll be divided because I'm faster than you," Revan announced. His tone was dead, his voice cracking with grief.

"But-!" Adan protested.

"It's what he _wants!_ He did this to save us. We'll take this opportunity to run," Revan cut Adan off. Slowly the two turned away.

"We'll go to Stygian lower. I've heard stories of witches hiding there if they really had to. Maybe we'll be fine," Revan murmured.

The two jumped from the tree tops all the way to the ground, landing light enough to not even cause a puff of dust or more sound than a falling feather. Together they struck out, moving at a light jog in the direction of the desert just north of Kendrick Peak. Stygian lower was located south of the grand canyon, east of Vegas, and north east of Phoenix. By Revans favorite calculation (by the crow's flight) it was about thirty nine miles out. But to the north there was a small town they could stop at momentarily. Just on the edge of the Prescott National Forest.

The two teens and two crows and the pure white cat moved out, unaware of the girl standing on the cloud looking down on them, a malicious smile on her razor thin lips.

* * *

"C'mon Leila! There's absolutely nothing here!" Regulus moaned as he shuffled tiredly after his partner, Leila. Leila was of medium build, well toned, with bright red hair that glowed like wild fire in the bright light. Leila stopped and turned to stare disapprovingly at Regulus, scowling her disapproval at her weapon partner. Regulus wouldn't mention it, but he preferred her front to her back. She was a bit more developed there, though if the sixteen year old boy mentioned it, his equally old mister would probably break his fingers.

"Reg, you are the laziest weapon in the entire year, you know that?!" Leila scolded her weapon. They both knew this wasn't true. They were the best weapon-Meister combo this decade. Regulus straightened up and looked into Leila's eyes. Or tried to anyways, they were hidden by dark glass. The red goggles Leila wore tended to blend in with her frilly red hair, so they were a bit hard to see on her scalp, but they were needed for Leila to fight. And they were hoping to find a fight out here, so the tinted goggles stayed on. They were slightly modified for her, metal instead of plastic. She needed them to be able to fight correctly with him in his weapon form. He tended to give off a lot of light, and if she held him she ran the risk of permanently damaging her eyes.

But the glare she leveled at him even through the dark glasses (which, coincidently gave her a great poker face) sent shivers down Regulus's spine. Leila was a fighter. 'Amazon Queen' their classmates called her. She would accept nothing less than the best, which was why she had walked straight up to Regulus on choosing day and told him that if he partnered with anyone else she'd teach him the real meaning of pain. Regulus had caved on the spot. They were a good match, Regulu's free spirit and weak will and focus countering Leila, allowing her to relax and him to focus better. That, and his total devotion to her ensured loyalty. Officially, weapons and misters weren't supposed to have relationships, but really, nobody cared for that rule. Not even their teachers followed it.

It was their strength that had led them to the top of the class, and their perfect balance that kept them there. Their teacher had assigned them this mission, the first mission of the year, their first mission in the Eat class, Stygian class for would-be kishin hunters. And now here they were, prodding around the place, but so far they hadn't heard tale nor rumors of anything out of the ordinarily. Except for them of course. The girl who's head looked like it was on fire and the boy beside her with skin that glowed like there was a light bulb at his center stirred up lots of rumors on their own, even if their school outfits marked them as Sytgian students.

Regulus sighed and got ready to further grind his feet into dust following his mister to the ends of the earth. To his surprise though, she momentarily hesitated as he moved past her. "Maybe we can... stop and get something to eat…" Leila admitted as she sighed. Regulus jumped and hugged her, smooching her sloppily on the cheek. "Down boy," Leila told him moodily as she held her weapon partner at arm's length.

The too quickly found their way into the nearest Death Café. As students of Stygian, they received eighty percent off at all purchases they made at Death Cafes. And thankfully, the little corner shops were all over the world, at least one in every town, and as many as six in any major city or capitol. They were a grand hit, but a new idea brought forth for the convenience of the students which quickly spiraled all out of control. Stygian academy had so much money from the ever popular Death Café's they didn't know what to do with it all. The academy was quiet philanthropic.

Regulus ate his burger and ordered two more like it, inhaling those as well while Leila regarded him and slurped her own cool ice slushy. Regulus, or Reg, or Reggie as people called him, was no doubt the most powerful weapon of the class with her. She had snatched him up immediately, and they'd been the school's favorite item and source of gossip since. Regulus was pretty good looking, though she knew herself to be very attractive, if the constant begging for dates from her male (and once or twice female) classmates meant anything. Regulus was tall and lanky, built more for speed than endurance. But make no mistake, she'd toughed him up to the point they could carve granite with his weapon form, the Shining Lance. In his natural form, his soul shown with enough light you had to squint until you got used to him. If you looked at him with soul perception, it could make you see spots, like staring at a bright light. In his weapon form, Regulus glowed with all the force of the sun.

Idly Leila glanced out at the sun. The laughing face was high in the sky and the cool blue of the air was dotted with a few lazy clouds. It was always sunny in Arizona, but here, just north of the national park, the clouds were especially pretty. Leila turned back to Regulus. He had a look on his face as he gazed at her. "What're you thinking about?" Leila asked him warily. She knew that look in his eyes. He was about to be either really serious (unlikely) or say something he thought would be funny. "Just thinking that maybe when today's search is over we could go back instead of spending a week here or something while we look for a kishin that doesn't exist," Regulus suggested as he slurped on her slushy loudly. Leila's eyebrow twitched. He definitely was being a wise guy. And when had he gotten a hold of her drink! It was almost empty now!

Regulus reeled back from her fist slamming into his temple and folded over in half over the back of his chair. The employee behind the counter slowly moved into the back room. Sighing Leila glanced down at her now unconscious partner. Now what would she do if she found the kishin? Probably would have to kill it by herself. Wonderful. Leila calmly took her drink back before glancing down at it. There were only a couple piles of slushy left, and Regulus had sucked out all the juice she'd been letting build up.

Sighing angrily Leila reclined backwards and let her eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

* * *

The hole in Adan's side could have passed a baseball through without touching, and it went right through his left lung. Revan needed to find a way out of this, and fast. Around him his two crows swirled, looking for an opportunity to attack their attacker. "Reyna! Why!" Revan called out in horror and rage as the witch dived at him at near sonic speeds from the sky.

"This wound prevents you from running. Doing so means death for the cat warlock. Your foolish sense of honor and propriety prevents you from escaping me with your own magic. You will not escape this time. The bird family will not allow you to live!" Reyna cried as she streaked out of the sky. Her sword sliced straight into the ground where Revan had been, but he had moved aside. Instead of attacking her, like he should've, _like he'd been trained_, he instead slapped his own black sword down on hers, pinning it in the ground. They both leapt away from each other. Reyna took to the sky, flying or floating on invisible air as her magic kept her from feeling the effects of gravity or friction. Her and her whole clan could fly, each equipped with magic cloaks they were given at birth by the clan elders than allowed them to fly, and boots with talons of their respective birds than allowed them to walk on air, or move as fast as they needed. The cloak gave them height, the boots gave them movement and speed.

Revan jumped back to the other traitor, the Cat Warlock. He thought she would attack the weakened and dying boy? Ridiculous. A hawk would never strike an opponent already defeated, nor would she finish off a prey already dying of a fatal wound. A cruel smile split Reyna's thin lips. Adan would die. Revan would be distraught, and she could finally kill her treacherous cousin! At the same time they both plucked a single feather each from their respective bird clan cloaks and muttered a magic word under their breath. A moment later and both held long, light, wide swords with paper thin edges and a two foot reach. As long as their cloak magically regrew their feathers, they would never run out of swords.

Reyna eyed Revan's footwork as she circled the sky above them, looking for a moment to strike. Revan's black crow feather cloak hid the would she'd already dealt him, but she could see the pain etched onto his face even from a mile up. Another good dive might allow her to stab him with her gauntlet covered left arm. The blades shone with reflected light. Or maybe she should put away her feather swords and get serious, summoning up either her fearsome air blades or her halberd. Revan knew she was toying with him, but she was already victorious. She'd wounded him. All she needed to do was bleed him out and not take any hits herself. She made sure Revan could see her smile. From a mile up she'd barely be anything but a blotch of brown in the sky to the two boys, but while Adan the Cat warlock might pass her off as nothing but a bird out of his claws reach, her cousin had bird sight. He could see her this far up without difficulty. He might not be able to see the details she could see on him with her superior eye sight, but she had no doubt his crow eyes would let him see her smile.

'You bring shame to our family' she mouthed at him as she wheeled about him.

'You fly like a vulture, and you circle like one too!' he mouthed back.

Reyna saw red and dived. She could reach speeds of up to 200 miles an hour in a dive, but this close to the earth, that would be foolish.

Lucky for Revan, he knew his cousin to be foolish when angered. As Reyna streaked from the sky with such speed she teleported, Revan unleashed a barrage of feathers, each magically hardened. Each little feather had become a flat broad dagger as long as his hand, and she was flying straight into the storm he'd aimed at her.

Reyna pulled up at the last second. She had considered flying to the knives to get at her blasphemous cousin, but she needed him to bleed out, not the other way around. As long as their magic boots hit the ground first, a bird clan witch could hit the earth at whatever speed they wanted. Rather than break every bone in their body on impact, the shock was transferred out of their body and into the air about them. This could turn a good dive into an aerial mortar shell that would blast away everything around them yet not disturb the actually ground under their feet. As Reyna touched down, the air blasted away from her and came crashing back in a split second, generating a sonic boom that didn't actually need her to go over the speed of sound. If she really needed to, Reyna had a spell that could allow her to break the barrier, but only for three seconds, and it would take months to recover.

Revan threw as many knives at his cruel cousin as he could before he flipped backwards over her sword strike. Watching the bird clan fight was like watching the world best ballerina's go at it. Their light hollow bones, inherent air magic, and magical equipment made the the most powerful witch clan in the entire kingdom. Or at least, that was what their legendary pride told each one of them.

Revan landed on top of her sword, right at the tip. Reyna's mouth split into a snarl as the well muscled girl flipped the blade from the flat facing the earth to the side, throwing Revan away from her with the movement. Hitting a bird clan could throw them for dozens of feet, like hitting a ping pong ball. Revan had used her anger and his light weight to get her to throw him into the air and away from her!

"Running to the end once more, I see!" Reyna called after him tauntingly.

"It was that or stabbing my cousin in the face! Maybe you're stronger and faster, but I'm smarter!" Revan taunted right back.

'Not so smart I didn't think better of taunting a girl famous for her pride anyways…' Revan realized as Reyna rolled back her head and screeched her anger to the skies.

"I'm better in every way! You are a traitor and a coward!" Reyna screamed at him as she used the bird clan's high speed movement to arrive in front of him in an instant. Somehow she's swapped her feather swords for her mother halberd. The two meter long staff had a massive three foot long blade. She could cut almost anything in half with it. Last he'd heard the record, Reyna had cut straight through a block of iron five feet wide and _kept going_ into some idiot that had stood to the side of it. He doubted she'd regretted the poor sap's death, even though it was probably her fault. Reyna could throw away whatever accusations or complains anyone presented to her. She was the bird clans princess, seeing as the queen was dead, and the female _always_ ruled the roost. No bird would speak out against their perfect princess anyways. She was everything he cruel and prideful bird clan aspired to be, in their eyes, their princess was perfect in every way. Revan tried to imagine it.

"No wonder you're so messed up," he told her (not for the first time) as he danced to of her each and broke a black feather sword on her weapon. As usual she screamed her hatred and rushed him blindly. Revan knew her was never a fair fighter. In a fair fight, Reyna would steam roll him, and then probably feed the remains to the rats. The worst death for the birds, to be consumed in death by vermin. Just the thought sent shivers down his soul.

Reyna leapt up and brought the halberd down at him in a swift downward arc. Revan had to wonder why she'd dare make such a move. It was not a good plan, and even in her rage Reyna should have seen it. Never the less Revan slipped onto her left side and prepared a debilitating strike that would cripple her until help arrived. She might kill him the moment she could, but Revan was better than that.

Too late he saw the smile on her lips and understood her gamble. She'd bet he'd go right, onto her left side. He was right handed, he'd done it instinctively. But her left arm was wrapped in that metal gauntlet with the cruel hooked blade on the end. She'd been hiding it from his view behind her cloak, as was her custom. He'd forgotten it. His eyes grew wide as her arm shot straight out, the hooked blade going right around the back of his neck. Each finger was tipped with a talon claw, each of which almost clawed Revans face.

His birds saved him. Reyna had forgotten they were there. Revan never traveled alone. His twin war crows sped from the forest line and attacked Reyna. Daggerbeak, his close combat bird dived from the forest line and caught the hooked blade on Reyna's gauntlet, yanking her arm out to her left as he pulled her arm. Swordwings shot out from behind her and his wing slammed her in the back of the head as he pulled up at the last minute to prevent hit metal clad wings from cutting her head off.

Reyna fell forwards and Revan's punch caught her in the throat. Reyna fell to the ground, unconscious. Her halberd clattered to the ground next to her. Revan smiled and pet the two birds as they landed on his shoulders. A groan brought Revan back to reality and he quickly dashed to Adan's side, hoping he could heal him in some way. Revan glanced up at the white cat that was by Adan's side. The pure white coat had been marred with blood, but the white cat Henry smiled at Revan.

"He'll be fine. I was able to clean the wound and seal it. He's going to be in a lot of pain, but our magic and the last medicinal supplies Sylar gave us are going to pull him through this," Henry told Revan.

A sad caw announced the arrival of Revan's final crow. Spybird, Revan's intelligence mole put down next to the group. "You're alive!" Revan exclaimed, surprised.

"Alen gave me time to get away. I see you did as he wanted as well," Spybird quietly spoke. His talons put something down in the windblown grass next to the group. A bloody mess of ground flesh and broken black feathers met their sights.

"You eh… brought Alen anyways." Henry supplied as he glanced at the pile of meat.

"He's as much my father as he is Revan's. That old crow gave his life for us, and endured a long death without speaking a word. He deserves a decent ending!" Spybird cawed angrily at Henry. The two other birds cawed their two bits too, each of the three looking angrily at the white cat. Henry swept his pure white wizards hat off his head and held it by the black buckle that went around the white hat. He passed it to Revan, who accepted it wordlessly before looking away.

"You gonna eat that?" Henry asked petulantly, eyed the bloody mess that once was the crow Alen. Revan aimed a kick at the cat, but Henry jumped away.

A bright flash and a small pulse of magic later and a mostly naked pale man stood where Henry had a moment before. He swept the white hat out of Revan's hands and jammed it down firmly on his head. Henry, now in a human form, stood and stretched. He wore only a bright pure white underwear, bleach white fruit of the looms covering him. Other than that and his hat, Henry was completely naked. A fan girl would probably pass out just from one glance at him. Already the two had had to save Adan's familiar from several swarms of hormonally charged females. Something about Henry's magical presence drove weak willed girls insane. Or maybe it was the body Henry described as 'sculpted by the gods'.

Revan pulled Adan to his feet and Henry wrapped Adan's other arm around his taller frame, holding his human master up. The three crows cawed unhappily at the cat, but he hissed at him and they scattered. They'd always stick close to Revan. "Anything you wanna steal off your cousin? If you don't mind, I at least want to steal her panties," Henry told Revan callously. Revan glanced over at his unconscious form. "I wouldn't go near her. Plus, reinforcements must be on the way. On top of everything else, if you did that, she might not be able to fly. She's wearing a skirt today. She'll be after your blood, at least twice as much as mine.

Henry smiled winningly and jabbed Revan in the ribs. "I'll blame it on you!" Henry announced like he'd just had the world greatest idea. "She won't believe it. That's also my cousin. You're not going to put yourself and your master in needless danger just to satisfy your own perverted notions and piss her off," Revan told Henry as he glared at the older and taller teen. Revan was sixteen, and Adan was about the same age. His cousin was at least twenty. Henry in his human form was probably close to being nineteen, and so he was taller than the underfed warlocks.

"I'll be back in a flash!" Henry announced happily as he dumped Adan into Revan's arms. Revan was unable to stop the cat as he leapt over to his cousin, as his arms were full of unconscious warlock. A moment later Henry was back, holding a lacy thong. Revan's face heated up a little, but Henry simply smiled lewdly and snapped the elastic band over Adan's face.

"You're so damn lucky Adan would die of grief if I killed you!" Revan snarled as he shoved Adan back into the cat's arms.

"You know you love me!" Henry replied chipperly as he began to limp along, suspending Adan between them.

"At least take that off his head. We don't want to kill him with a nosebleed," Revan growled out as he shifted to support Adan.

"Do it yourself!" Henry smiled back, fully knowing Revan wouldn't touch the frilly thong until his life depended on it. Revan merely grunted unhappily and looked pointedly away from Adan's face. Henry grinned and continued to tease Revan.

"What! World's best thief, and you've never stolen a girl before?" Henry asked coyly. Revan's eyes slid sideways as he faught back against the verbal barb.

"After everything we've been through, you're asking me if I've ever kidnapped someone? Of course not! When would I even have had the time!" Revan snapped. Henry grinned cheekily as he lifted Adan's feet so he wasn't trailing anymore.

"Well, there was that one time in Salt Lake City you were gone for days. Who knows what happened there? And you always check out come night. And you refuse to talk about your 'night flights', so it's not like we know what you're doing," Henry announced, his eyes carefully searching Revan's expression, despite the teasing smile on his face.

Revan's eyes glazed over for a moment at the mention of the times he disappeared, a sad look shadowing his face. But a moment later the indignant fury returned in full force.

"I'd never! I have morals! I use my powers to steal objects, never… ugh.." Revan sputtered off as his face glowed red. Henry grinned.

"Not even that one time-"

"I was six!" Revan cut him off.

"You know, male cats are mature at five months. What? You just don't know how it's done? I'll show you how sometime, you know how easy is for me to-"

"We are not having this conversation. And I am not taking advice from you ever again. EVER," Revan spat.

"Ah, so you are a-"

"Shut the hell up, cat!"

* * *

Regulus woke shortly after the Sonic boom in the forest. Leila had awoken him with some strong spices from the Death Cafe while she dragged him through the streets. A quick slap had brought him to his senses, and Leila had described the events as they ran towards the sight. Lord Pluto had been right! There was a kishin here! They'd never doubt Lord Pluto, but his oracle? Well, she had been wrong before. Often. As they entered the forest they heard a great deal of yelling. Heading towards the source of the noise, they stopped abruptly when they saw the source. It'd been at least seven minutes from the explosion, so the Kishin was probably on the move. Yelling mean people, probably. A good place to start.

Leila and Regulus stopped dead when their eyes met the source of the noise though. Walking down a forest path, three guys walked. Two of them held the third teen, his arms draped over their shoulders. The first man was on first look, completely naked except for a white wide brimmed hat that shadowed his face. A second look revealed him to actually be wearing a pair of incredibly skimpy underwear that was as snow white and sparkly as his skin. He had a sort of aura around him that drew Leila in for a moment before she snapped herself out of it.

The younger teen on their left was their age. He was dark, in a word. A large nearly black leather hood covered his head, and the cloak extended to his knees. The cloak, from the neck down was so covered with black crow feathers you couldn't even see if there was still leather under it. His left arm was holding up the boy, so they could see into his cloak. He wore a dark leather jerkin, and it looked well worn. The teen had sowed on extra pockets, and he has at least a dozen on his chest. The inside of his cloak was nothing but pockets, except for a few knifes in their holders, and a couple spots where there was no leather and he could touch the feathers through the inside of his cape. His pockets were bulging; full to their twine latches will no doubt stolen good. His long thin fingers were the exact type to be master pickpocket's. His pants were an earthy green, of a heavy woven material. Hey too had a few extra pockets. His belt was lined with pouched and scabbards, some of which were empty. A dark sword hung at his side, its thin black side thin as paper, but it was broad. His knees had little black triangular metal knee caps sown on. His boots were a dark golden color, like they should have shined but had been put in the mud too often. Three huge black metal talons came off the front of his boots to wrap around the front of his toes. The boots had two golden wings on each, originating from the front at the crease where the flat met the rise of the heavy snow boot like combat leggings. The two pairs of wings wrapped around the boots to jut out a bit on either side of the boots. Thick leather gloves went up to his elbows, and cloth strips had been wrapped around the middles, like they were bird handler gloves. The actual teen in question had a sallow unhealthy skin, and his greasy hair hung down in strings. His large hook nose cast even more of his face in shadows. His thin mouth was creased in a frown and he had an angry look in eyes whereas the white naked man was nearly laughing in mirth.

The boy between them was covered in blood. He was held off the ground by the two, his toes dragging a little over the ground. He wore a large cloak like the feathered boy, but his was furred with a yellowish orange fur. As it reached his neck is got a little fuzzier, like it might've been a parka. Twin ears perked up over the hood, which had fallen off his face. He was clearly unconscious, but a frilly black thong was draped over his eyes. He had strange gloves on his hands, with golden claws on sliding mechanisms on each finger than would allow the claws to retract or extend. Around his short nose appeared almost whisker like scars, partly obscured with underwear. His lips were open a little, revealing short sharp fangs as his canines. His short form was well muscled however. As they observed the two ears moved freely, like they were alive. Must've been the wind.

The two stupefied Stygian students stared at their discovery in raw wonder for only a few seconds before Leila pinched Regulus. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"Making sure I'm not dreaming," Leila told him.

"You've gotta pinch yourself or that. Leila? Leila, stop staring at his crotch!"

Leila shook herself awake and refocused as Regulus sulked. Activating soul perception, Leila gazed upon their souls. "Well, are they kishins?" Regulus asked impatiently.

"Them? No way. But it's weird… they've all got the weirdest souls I've ever seen. The cloaked kid has wings on a green soul! I don't even know what that means! The middle one, he's got this really curious soul. He must ask lots of questions. It's green too, but it's got cat ears on it, like the ones on his hood! And the white guy on the right? His soul has a cat collar around it, and it's really small. It's also colored turquoise, like the blue of a person or animal mixed with…. Whatever they are," Leila surmised as she quickly scanner their souls.

Soul perception was a powerful mister ability not everyone could do. But Lord Pluto had found a way to teach it to anyone who couldn't do it naturally. Naturally though, Leila had always been able to see souls. So she didn't know how Lord Pluto did it.

"What now?" Regulus asked?

"What do you mean what now? Now we get the drop on them and subdue them for questioning!" Leila hissed.

"But they're human!"

"Humans have blue soul. I have a blue soul. You have a blue soul. They do not have blue souls!" Leila reasoned.

"Don't react, but we're being watched," Revan revealed as he cut through Henry's perverted story. Henry's eat kicked into overdrive but he finished his story.

"In the bushes, in the tree, slightly off the path, on a branch. About two meters up, about on our two thirty. Two kids my age. They're Stygian students. Spybird is sending me the images. We'll get the drop on them when Daggerbeak and Swordwings get into position," Revan mumbled just loud enough for Henry's ears to pick up. An expert ventriloquist or voice mimic, like crows could be, Revan could do all sorts of things with his voice. It's didn't make up for not being able to take any decent hit, what with his hollow bones, but it was something.

"Do I make them mad, or do you want the pleasure?" Henry asked discreetly.

"You do it. I'm still shaking from my fight with Reyna. I want the easy job this time," Revan admitted as he grit his teeth and kept his face from forming a snarl. It figures. The moment they get out of the witches range and into Stygian territory they get discovered by none other than every witch's enemy, students hoping to become a death weapon. The worst among them could be callous murders, attacking witches too young to fight back or witches that hadn't done anything wrong. Weapons and Meisters didn't care often enough how they got a witch soul, just so long as they did.

Revan breathed "now," at the same time Leila grabbed Regulus and leapt to hit Henry across the head with the flat of Regulus' lance form. Daggerbeak was there, attacking from Leila's six at the same time Swordwings began his dive from the sky. It'd take more than a simple Stygian student to stop a four way attack. Henry quickly dropped Adan and rushed Leila with a move he had dubbed 'The Flying Crotch Drop' white Revan reached into his cloak to retrieve the smallest crossbow anybody present had ever seen. Barely bigger than a gun, the ammunition bolts were little bigger than toothpicks, each dipped with a mild sedative. Jumping back, crossbow in his right hand, aiming at Leila's neck, left arm holding up Adan; Revan aimed.

Leila saw everything with soul percept. She ducked under Henry's 'attack', blocked Daggerbeak from her hair with her left arm, moved her neck so the bolt only grazed her neck, and held Regulus aloft with her right hand. Regulus's intense light grew until it was nothing but a blinding world of light. Revan shielded his eye with his hood and covered them further with his right arm. All three of his crows flew off in terror. Only Adan, who had been looking away was spared.

Leila kicked Revan as hard as she could. To her surprise, something sounded like it broke in his rib cage and he threw back his head and screamed in pain. Dropping Adan Revan collapsed backwards onto a tree. Leila saw this through her shielded eyes and dismissed him as no longer a threat. Spinning to continue attacking Henry, she was surprised to see Henry's fist. Henry punched Leila, and as she spun to try and dodge the blow Henry's fist connected with her goggles, throwing them off and into the tall grass. Leila spun and lanced out at Henry with Regulus.

"Woah! Leila! Watch it! We're not going to kill them!" Regulus cried from inside his weapon form.

"Shut up! We can just tell Lord Pluto about this one! I don't want to look at him any longer!" Leila shrieked in rage before seeping outwards with Regulus. Henry backed out of the range of the sweep and then dashed in to swipe at Leila's chest. His hand connected, and his finger nails elongated, turning into hooked claws.

Instead of cutting Leila however, he only cut her shirt from the collar to the bottom, keeping his claws in the fabric as he ducked under her retaliating stab and pulling away to spread her shirt when she stabbed the ground where he had been.

Leila shrieked in rage. Henry smiled and tipped his hat too her. "Let's stop now before I am forced to take your bra, shall we?" He cat called, shaking himself at her. Leila blinked.

"Don't you mean 'before I take you life'?" she asked, mildly confused for a moment.

"Of course not! I don't kill people! I'm in life to have fun!" he announced. Then he held up his hand and mimed groping her. "Nice tits, by the way!" He called cheerfully.

Leila screamed again and sped forward, cocking her arm, throwing Regulus. Henry's eyes went wide and he opened his mouth to yell before the lance stabbed through his chest. Regulus's lance form sank into Henry up until his widest metal guard, leaving only the handle length sticking out of the teen's chest. Henry glanced down at Regulus and then up at Leila, who was shaking with rage. He held up his hand, index upward like he was about to make a funny quote before he went cross eyed and pitched forwards.

Regulus turned back into a human and held up Henry before his body vaporized, as it was with anybody killed with a weapon. A Floating turquoise soul appeared where Henry had died. "Leila! You fucking killed him!" Regulus swore.

"He was a murderer! A scoundrel! He was trying to trick us! He wasn't human!" Leila announced angrily. Leila turned to survey the others, observing the two boys. Revan was watching her. His eyes were hard chips of obsidian, but he didn't say a thing. He was hardly breathing, each a painful wheeze as he held his side. He had caught Adan as he fell, and the other boy was propped up. Leila thought about the wound the cat hooded boy must've taken.

"What did you do to him?" Leila asked the black eyed sallow faced boy.

"I didn't do a thing! We were attacked by a witch!" Revan spat out, spitting blood.

"They're our age, but those two are kinda scrawny. They look some of the orphans that come to Stygian Superior at young ages," Regulus pointed out.

"They look like that?!" Leila argued, pointing to their strange get-ups and Revan's many weapons. Revan threw a dagger at her while her head was turned, his arm snapping out faster than she suspected he could move.

A hand clamped down on the hollow shafted back of the black feather. "Now now Revan, mortals have hurt us pretty bad before, but we've never killed them," Henry admonished. Leila jumped back, her hand connecting with Regulus, but he shot her a sharp look and refused to transform. Leila glared at him, and he merely shoved her black goggles onto her head.

"Explain," Regulus barked. Henry, hole in his chest fixed and all bent down to swipe his white wizard hat off the ground and carefully situate it on his head.

"Cat's have nine lives," Henry announced ambiguously. He then grimaced distastefully and pulled a grass lead off the brim of his hand and tossed it away sadly. "Not how I imagined I'd die for the fourth time. Just five lives left then!" He announced, forcing his tone to be happy.

"Explain yourself!" Leila shouted at him. She was much more intimidating with her blackened goggles on, which hid her soulful blue eyes. Henry's green eyes regarded her distastefully.

"Are you going to take us captive?" Henry asked.

"Yes." Both Stygian students announced at the same time.

"Then I'd like to tell the story only once. Take me to your leader!" Henry announced magnanimously as he held out his hands for handcuffs. Leila slapped him, but still cuffed him. Leila tied up Adan's hands as Regulus closely watched Revan.

"I'd take his cloak. Most of his weapons are in there," Henry supplied helpfully. Revan looked shocked, like he was going to protest, but he slammed his lips shut and turned to look away from Henry, avoiding his gaze. Regulus unfastened the crow feather cloak off of Revan's leather jerkin collar.

"Do we empty his pockets?" Regulus asked as he eyed Revan's many, many pockets full of things.

"I want to leave before night fall. Witches are chasing us and they want us dead," Henry informed the two as he picked up Adan and slung him over his shoulder.

"You going to go into town with that?" Regulus asked, blushing as he gestured to Leila's ripped shirt. Henry dipped down and fished around in one of Revan's pockets, only to withdraw with a sowing needle and a length of thin but strong looking black thread.

"Give me your shirt, I can fix it," Henry offered, a perverted smile on his face.

"No!" Regulus shouted at the same time Leila slipped off her ruined shirt and tossed them to Henry, who immediately began fixing them.

"What! Why?" Regulus asked Leila incredulously.

"What? They've already seen," Leila answered grumpily.

"But that took me months and they've taken only hours," Regulus grumbled. Leila gave him a threatening looking glare. Henry laughed a little. Soon Henry was done and he gave Leila back to quickly stitched together clothes while he put Revan's supplies back in the pocket they'd come from.

"I think I know what I'm doing," Henry admitted to Revan as he hoisted the Crow Warlock up to his feet. Regulus took up Adan, and Leila walked behind, watching them all closely.

* * *

Reyna groaned. Her head was fuzzy, and her neck hurt like her pride. What'd happened? "Ah, sleeping beauty awakes," came a dry dull voice Reyna recognized. Reyna let her head fall to the ground and groaned. She didn't want to deal with her other cousin at the moment.

"And so intelligence beats out brute power once again," Minerva announced in a dry monotone. Reyna snapped up and within a moment her gauntlets blade was at Minerva's throat.

"Going to try and off me so soon after waking up? Your own flesh and blood? Your Clan advisor?" Minerva asked blandly, like she was talking about the weather.

Minerva observed her other cousin Minerva. Minerva wasn't her really name. All the bird clan had witches of R names, so it was impossible Minerva was really her name. But she'd never been told or found out her advisor's real name. Minerva was of short stature. Her diminutive size was balanced by a curvy form that her advisor refused to consider. Minerva refused to think with anything other than calm rational logical intelligence, without any emotional inflection. Minerva has a heart shaped face, like her owls. Her eyes were magnified greatly behind massive glasses that Reyna was absolutely positive Minerva wore only for looks, despite Minerva being far too 'logical' to wear something she did not need. Or perhaps they were enchanted? Minerva wore a mottled white cloak. Her talons on her boots were extra sharp and lethal looking, even compared to the other razor sharp claws of other Bird Clan boots. Minerva wore a standard brown leather jerkin under her owl cloak, and the commonly green legging of the bird clan. As was with all females though, they also wore an over skirt, a long knee length skirt that extended from the bottom of the jerkin. Minerva was several years older than Reyna, being twenty five.

"You are no kin of mine. You are barely better than that talentless Crow traitor!" Reyna groaned, not really meaning it, simply taking her anger out on her loyal subordinate.

"That talentless Crow traitor just beat you. And that Cat stole your undergarments," Minerva announced aloud. Reyna quickly checked and then looked back up at Minerva with a slight blush on her face.

"I don't suppose you've got-"

"No. And to top it off, we really need to return to the clan. You'll have to fly freebird," Minerva replied, speaking of the act of flying totally naked except for your cloak and boots. It was looked down on greatly.

"At least he left me my skirt this time," Reyna growled out.

"This time? So they have stolen from you before?" Minerva asked.

"It was only the cat the first time; I don't think the other two- Never mind. Why must we return? Where are the traitors?" Reyna asked her cousin.

"The traitors have been subdued and taken into the captivity of two Stygian agents. A Meister Weapon combo. The two appear to be a couple. We must return because we have expended all the time we had to track down and kill the rogue Warlocks," Minerva announced.

"Impossible, I have only been out for," Reyna checked the sun and stopped mid sentence.

"Four hours. The moon rises. If your ladyship requests it, I can continue the hunt, but you must return," Minerva announced.

"What? They two are as good as dead. It might be today, it might be sometime tomorrow. Maybe they'll be prisoners until they need their souls. But they're as good as dead," Reyna announced before glancing at Minerva. "They are, aren't they?" she asked imploringly.

"I will never underestimate the Cat Familiars ability to talk his way out of anything. Adan is likely too useful to kill should they discover his abilities. Revan they would have to catch. The only thing the Crow Warlock is bound to is the Cat Warlock. I suspect they are in only mild danger. However, Revan has taken a heavy hit and hit malnourished body had collapsed on its hollow bones. He may be in very really danger. Pluto would not keep alive a captive with no purpose, no matter how interesting, if the pattern holds," Minerva reasoned coldly.

"Walk with me. I will need your night eyes. Send your owl to spy. But we return. And unfortunately we walk back to the regroup point," Reyna announced as she uncomfortably rubbed her legs together. Minerva rolled her eyes.

Minerva's great owl swooped silently down out of the sky. The huge creature was as big as a Minerva herself. The massive great grey could pick up a man and carry him into the sky, and could hunt anything smaller than only moose. Its name was Hermes, and Minerva was inseparable from him. For observation, Minerva had other owls to call upon, like most witches. As far as Reyna knew, she was one of the only witches without familiars. And after today, she was going to change that and finally get around to raising some hawks for herself. Or perhaps recruit a wild and proud hawk. That was more her style. But she'd never tried it before; she might need help for her first time.

"Minerva, when we get back, I want you to help you tame a hawk," Minerva told her loyal cousin. Minerva observed her for a moment and nodded.

"If you do not mind, I have called Hedge. He can fly you if you will not fly yourself. Shall I summon Mayes to continue spying on the Stygian?" Minerva asked mildly as she helped Reyna onto Hedge.

"Only if you think he won't be caught, I don't want you to lose you most useful spy," Reyna instructed. Minerva nodded and readied her flight stance. A small barn owl flew by, heading in the direction of Stygian lower. "Mayes will continue the observation," Minerva announced she and Hedge launched into the air at the same time.

* * *

**Don't panic. I'm not done with Agent of Entei; I just needed to get this out of my head, as it's been bothering me. I'm sorry the chapters are so few and far between, but school is crazy. Anyways, I'll probably continue this story next after I eventually finish Agent of Entei. It's getting closer. **


	2. Morgan Le 'Fay and Lord Pluto

**Stygian Hall Superior**

**Chapter Two: Lord Pluto and Morgan Le Fay**

Though the three captives didn't put up any fight or try to run away, Leila and Regulus still had an immense amount of trouble with them. Since Stygian city was only about sixty miles away, they had been able to hitch a ride out from their schools 'security guard' Chuck. He had gladly taken them along while he had dropped them off and kept going. He was to return and pick them up two days from now, but the group couldn't wait that long. So instead, they waited until it was dark, which took only a couple hours. Henry used what little magic he had and healed Revan as much as he could, which only acted as a weak painkiller. Witch magic was not geared towards healing, as that was only a rare talent. They were lucky Henry _could _even dull pain like he could because it had been the only thing to keep them going before in the past, more times than was healthy.

As the sun went down, losing energy and laughing slower, the moon began to rise from the other side of the sky, laughing his own maniacal laugh. Revan watched the moon as it began to rise, growing gradually sleepier. The human part of him could keep himself up, but the Crow part of his wanted to go to sleep now, though if he could use his magic he'd wake right up. Henry hovered over Adan protectively, applying all the healing magic he could muster. The faint green glow was little more than an air shimmer. The cat had used up most of his magic reserves, and pretty soon he was going to have to change back into a cat or risk the unpleasant consequences, things such like magical drain, soul erosion, instinctual clash, genetic tearing. It wouldn't be such a problem if he wasn't so drained, and that was mostly because he had been killed by Leila.

Revan hunched forward and glared sidelong at the Miester and weapon. Regulus was watching them all carefully, but the fiery red head was staring intently into a small pocket mirror. "Sorry girl, no amount of makeup will change the fact you look like you're on fire," Revan quipped moodily, and then regretted his snarky attitude when his ribs twinged painfully. Neither captor said a thing, or even observed him.

Just as the sun slipped past the horizon Leila dipped down closer to the mirror and breathed onto it, the glass fogging up. She quickly wrote on the fogged surface with her finger, but her long curly hair obscured what she could have written from Revan's vision. Regulus glanced around again before holding his hand up a little. A little more light emanated from his skin as the tip of his hand turned back into a lance tip, glowing bright enough to illuminate the street they sat on.

"Oi, light boy! Quit it, that's visible from freakin' space!" Revan hissed quickly, glancing around habitually himself, looking for those dreaded shadows. The witches could be anywhere, he had learned. They were a widespread people. Regulus glanced at him and then up at his hand, unaffected by his own light. A moment later the light dulled a little as his arm turned back to flesh, leaving only his index finger metal, which he held down for Leila to see. So he could control his light force with how much he transformed? Revan had heard stories about the semi-magical students and weapons of Stygian academy, but nothing like this. It made a bit more sense to him now how these people could fight kishins and hope to live, having seen firsthand the sort of light Regulus could put out.

To Revan's surprise, a new voice rang out loud and clear. Revan quickly twisted and turned, hoping to identify or locate, ignoring all his pain as he looked for the source. Where was it! "Oh. Leila. Reggy. What's up?" A mild mannered voice asked. Revan looked right at the source of the noise, and it took him a moment or two to comprehend what he was seeing. The _mirror was talking._

Leila frowned. "Mr. Orion? But, we were told that this number connected to  
Lord Pluto…" Leila trailed off, confusedly.

"Well kid, you can't just call the headmaster. He's very busy most of the time," The voice, Mr. Orion said. He sounded unsure though. "Anyways, you called me, you have me. How's the mission going? Or knowing you, I should say, how'd the mission go?" Mr. Orion asked cheerfully. He seemed like a nice enough guy to Revan.

"We've got… captives we think Lord Pluto would want to see," Leila announced, unsure of herself as she glanced over at the three.

"Now, now, Leila. You know the rules. Don't involve mortals if you can, fight to the bitter end, utterly destroy all threats, take no prisoners. Who could you have that you needed to take captives?" Mr. Orion asked curiously.

"Something we didn't go over in class. They're not human, but they're not witches. And they're not Kishin. I've got two of the same… type and a third of a different type. They look human enough on the outside, but if you look at their souls… they're green. Do you know anything about that, Mr. Orion?" Leila asked as she glanced down on the hurt trio.

The voice on the other end took a long time before answering. Revan began to pray, his heart beat slowing. Their lives depended on this answer. Each second passed like an hour. 'Oh wise and glorious Circe, lady of magic, please don't them kill us,' Revan prayed mentally as he fearfully stared at the mirror in Leila's hand. Regulus reached for Leila's hand, ready to flip into his lance form if needed.

"Hmm. You're right. Lord Pluto will want to see them. I've seen only one like it in the past. They're Warlocks, Leila. If you've caught them, bring them in quick. I don't know anything about the third type you've got there, but I want you to bring it in too. I'll call Chuck to come get you. He'll be along shortly," Mr. Orion decided.

Revan let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and thanked Circe, Medea, Merlin, and every other famous magus he could think of. Beside him, Adan groaned a bit and Henry quickly applied the last dredges of his magic into the heal spell. "Henry," Revan quickly barked before Henry could pass out, swaying on his feet. "Hmm?" Henry asked, almost totally out of it with exhaustion. The two hadn't wanted him to change back into a cat because they needed every edge they could get, but Henry needed to return and rest.

"Change back," Revan commanded quickly. Henry nodded. "What do you think you're talking about?" Leila asked from behind them, the intense light of full form Regulus, the shining Lance lighting the whole street like it was day. "Henry has expended all his magic. He needs to become his true form again, or he'll probably die again," Revan told the two without turning to face the blinding light. Henry curled up, standing on his feet and hugging his knees. There was a little burst of light before his form quickly glowed white and began to shrink, transforming downwards and twisting and compacting. A moment or two later and Henry had shrunken to be only half a foot tall, his arms becoming legs. A tail grew out of his spine as it elongated.

The two stygian students gawked as the small pure white cat picked itself up wearily from where Henry stood, his signature white wizard hat perched on top of the cats head, though smaller to fit onto the feline's form. Henry lethargically and drunkenly walked over to Adan's collapsed form and fell onto his side, curling up under his arm and dropping off into sleep right away.

"Explain!" Leila screeched at Revan. The sallow faced boy shrugged in the general direction of the light. "Henry is a cat. He got his power by becoming Henry's familiar. Most familiars can't do anything of the sort, but Adan gave him a lot of magic. To be fair, he was about four, he hadn't had any training at all, and since he's not actually the cat magic user, but rather the lion magus, he had way more magic than he could control packed away into his body. When he got Henry, his body sensed the potential familiar in the feline form. Lion or not, the magic was desperate to escape. Adan sort of overrode Henry's soul on accident with the amount of magic that split away. The two told me it happened the first time four year old Adan picked up a little white kitten he'd come across one day. He barely had time to say 'Kitty!' before his wild powers lashed out and stole away into Henry. Ever since then Henry has been an intelligent, talking, magical, transforming cat. Probably not the first familiar of its type, nor the most unusual, but he's pretty good if I do say so myself. Not that my crows are bad, but, it would be nice if Daggerbeak or Swordwings could talk or were intelligent like Spybird is," Revan rambled.

"But, magic is evil! It corrupts and makes you spread chaos!" Leila protested vehemently. Revan raised an eyebrow at her.

"Your boyfriend there turns into a meter long medieval conical lance, and gives off light like he thinks he's a LED light. He transforms and he talks in either form. He can change only bits of his body, or whole sections into the lance. That actually sort of sounds like a witch's familiar if you ask me. But please, since you're so, he he he, _'enlightened'_ explain to me how that's not magic," Revan asked sarcastically.

"It's genetic! A mutation or something. As for the light, that's because I've got a really special soul!" Regulus defended. Revan raised his eyebrow even higher, and it disappeared under his stringy hair.

"It's genetic. Just like magic! As for a mutation, that's how most things start out when you look at evolution. And I'm sure you're very special, light bulb boy," Revan responded, practically oozing sarcasm.

Regulus raised his own eyebrow in response. "Didn't your mother ever tell you to not say anything if you've nothing nice to say?" Regulus asked condescendingly.

"Shut it, light-bright!" Revan snarled at Regulus.

"Ooh, I touch a nerve? What're you going to do, curse me?" Regulus asked mockingly.  
Revan smiled darkly back at him like he'd just gotten a nasty idea.

"You don't think he can actually do that, do you?" Regulus asked Leila quietly as he regarded the wounded teen.

"If he tries anything, I'm killing him. We've got his brother, and one is enough. Not to mention the magic cat is special to them. And unlike oily over there, this ones's been good this entire trip. Maybe it's just because he's been quiet and unconscious this entire time, but I like him more than the other feather cloak," Leila considered.

"They're not related. For sure. They don't look anything alike, and they've got really different aura's," Regulus informed. Leila rolled her eyes at him. A loud blaring horn split the night. All three heads turned to face the noise. Regulus cricked his neck because he'd turned it too fast and grabbed at it in pain. Revan snickered. Henry's head came up sleepily to regard the source of the noise. Down the street a loud motor rumble grew closer. A bit dust covered beat up pickup pulled up the evening road. The pickup had seen better days. The headlights were scratched up, some of the paint had been chipped off and was peeling on the front, the bumper looked like it'd been used a few too many times, and what looked suspiciously like dusty blood splattered the off-white hood.

The truck pulled to a stop. For a moment Revan thought there was an enormous man in the bed, before he released there was also another in the driver's seat. "Chuck!" both Students called. It was clear that they knew him. Chuck opened his door and got out, stepping straight from the door to the ground without a problem. Revan observed the potential threat carefully. The man was probably not a day older than twenty three. Chuck had a chiseled face, short brown hair, and a pair of overshadowed beady black eyes. Chuck towered over them. He must've been seven feet tall, and weighed four hundred pounds of nothing but muscle. He wasn't super ripped like professional body builders, could still looked like he could bench press all four kids in front of him, one stacked onto of the other. He wore thick brown boots with a metal toe. His jeans were a bit worn in the front, and a sun-bleached blue. His broad shoulders swung as he moved, giving the illusion of great effort in each step. Chuck wore a simple forest green T shirt that cut off on each bicep. He wore strangely long leather glove over each hand, the back of each glove being inscribed with a round metal gear, the middle of which held a divot that went inwards towards the wearers hands. The gloves looked familiar to Revan. Golem Gloves! Golem makers used them in particular to help fashion their golems. Which also explained the heavy dust and clay covering Chuck. The clay appeared to have partly woven itself into the man's clothing, decorating it with flecks of hardened clay or chips of the stuff.

That sort of explained the huge bald dome in the back of Chuck's truck. It was the head of a golem no doubt. "So, what's going on here?" Chuck asked in a surprisingly clear voice. For some reason Revan had been expecting a voice so deep he'd feel it in his hollow bones. It had happened before around people really big, and Chuck took the prize.

"We've got captives. I know we're not supposed to ever give up a Kishin hunt, but they're not kishins, and they've got green souls." Leila announced stoically. Chuck glanced over at the three.

"I'll take your word for it," Chuck told her as he walked over to them. Revan tensed up, ready to fight back or flee, but Chuck simply picked him up in one arm and grabbed Adan in the other. Revan swiped Henry off the ground as well. Chuck put Revan (and Henry) in the back carefully, and Regulus hopped in beside them. Leila took the passenger seat, and Adan's limp form was laid down on the back seat. The truck started back up, and with an uncomfortable lurch sent Revan and Henry upwards while Regulus's face pitched forward and slammed loudly into the truck's gate. Chuck called back an unfeeling, "Sorry!" as the pickup started again, smoothly pulling forward and heading down the road into the desert.

With night all but upon the group, and with the wind whipping by as Chuck sped down the highway at a hundred twenty miles an hour the trio in the back of the truck got very cold, very quickly. Revan took Henry and tucked the cat close to him, under his black knee length cloak. Regulus seemed better able to handle the chill wind, as he sat himself down opposite of them, leaning on the back of the cab. Regulus posed a question to the two, but the words were lost in the wind.

Revan narrowed his eyes at him and yelled, "What!" at Regulus as loud as he could. Regulus said whatever he had said again, louder, but it too was lost. Revan was about to yell 'What?' again but gave up and leant back against the bed's gate. Personally Revan thought it very foolish of the Stygian students and employee to put him back there. To be fair though, they had no idea he could take flight into the very air itself just by throwing himself upwards.

With nothing else to do, Revan eyed the golem occupying the same bed as him. The monstrously large golem was humanoid in appearance. It must've stood ten feet tall, and it seemed to Revan that its body was so thick and wide it would probably take up a whole water tower if it got larger. Five massive fingers on each hand, each as big around as his own forearm decorated each palm, both of which were easily twice the size of Revan's head. The golem was made of old brown dusty clay. The golem wore no clothes, but had been roughly inscribed with lines to make it look like it wore a pair of massive overalls, the blue paint probably passing off as denim well. The golems' 'skin' was sun bleached and very durable looking. The head was a simple dome coming off shoulders that could've lifted the truck they rode in without difficulty. There were no features on the head, but rather it was left a blank tan. Two eye holes had been bored into the giant's head, but they weren't even, resulting in the right eye being a little higher, like it's head was turned questioningly. The head also had a network of little dry cracks that ran over the surface. On closer inspection one could see there was all little cracks all over the body, and near the joints they lined it in layers. It had no elbows or knees. Someone with little artistic skill had taken a heavy black sharpie and drawn a large smile over the golem's domed head, but it was done as if the golem was laughing at you. It gave off something of a disturbing air.

Revan nudged one of the legs carefully with a brass boot. The golems painted blue legs were each as tall as the short boy's neck, and as thick as a tire. Just as he made contact a red light lit up each eye, and the head turned slightly to look at him. Revan could see that the red light came from deeper in the head, and that it created an effect as if he was being viewed from very far distance. The moving of the head made a dull grinding noise that could be heard even over the roar of the wind. Revan shuddered as he regarded the titanic golem. The golem regarded him silently for a moment before moving its head back. The red lights went out and Revan slouched down, relaxing again. Regulus laughed at him, and Revan shot him a glare. The sallow warlock resolved to not do anything but sit there and shiver for the rest of the ride.

Of course at that moment they hit a pothole, and the truck's front end tipped up. Rather than it falling forward again, it seemed to reach perfect weight balance, and Chuck kept driving, wheeling the massive pickup down the road like it was entirely normal. Revan held the back for dear life, and Regulus held onto a metal handle bar on the back of the cabin which looked like it'd been put there for exactly that purpose. The golem began to slide forward, but tight chains around its waist prevented it from more than a few inches. Henry let out a very undignified squeal of fear. In the cab Chuck pulled a lever, and the truck leveled out, falling forward to bounce heavily off the front two wheels.

Revan looked over the back of the pickup. Below the back hot sparks under the bed of the truck shot out. There must've been some sort of rocket thruster down with the express purpose of putting the wheels down again.

* * *

Alice stood on the balcony and looked straight at the moon. He was laughing tonight like he hadn't in a long time. Blood dripped from his mouth. Vaguely Alice wondered what the moon and sun looked like to anyone who had absolutely no potential to see souls. Supposedly the sun was nothing but an enormous ball of fire, and the moon a big hunk of rock. Neither laughed. How strange the mundane world was, Alice reflected.

A light flitter of wings alerted Alice of the castle's messenger. Alice turned to Grace alight on the ground, making no more noise than her animal style, the moth. Grace was a small girl, probably only of nineteen years of age. She had short, boyish black hair, and a small elfish face. A pair of earrings and a lip piercing adorned her face, each set with a small black gem. Grace's figure was covered by her long magical equipment. Four large functional moth wings rested on her back, and on the hood of her black cloak two large feather-like moth antenna twitched. Like any witch with an animalistic boost of senses, Grace wore a large hood decorated with their animals ears to receive the boosted hearing. It was a common enough practice among most mammal witches, but Grace's antennae did more. She could pick up and interpret all sorts of vibrations, from sound to air pressure. This was incredibly useful to her, and Alice, whom employed her to spy on the other witches in the castle and act as her own personal servant. This combined with Grace's power of flight, made for an excellent spy. And if needed, Grace could use her powerful poisons and concoctions to all sorts of effects. Grace could use her poison of sleep dust the most effectively out of all her powders, which had helped Alice considerably in her grabs for power.

Alice eyed Grace, expecting the latest from her loyal servent. No doubt Grace was reporting that her newest plot or scheme had gone well and that some old competitor was no longer a problem. Every plan had succeeded. Alice was right in the most powerful spot of the witch kingdom one could possibly hope to obtain, she was the highest, the queen, the lor-

"Grand Witch Morgan Le Fay would like to see you, Ma'am," Grace addressed Alice calmly. Alice quickly caught herself. She'd almost burst out laughing. Instead a frown crossed her face.

"When?" Alice asked grace, turning into her room to begin looking through her closet for an appropriate dress. The Grand Witch. How Alice despised her, and how she loved her. The Grand Witch had raised her. Yet she was an impossible block from total and complete power over the kingdom. The Grand Witch was an immortal Goddess-like Being, with unparalleled magical power. She was also as sane as a soup sandwich. Luckily Alice could use her. And her insanity meant she would often schedule meetings for impossibly far off times, or for times that had already passed. Most likely this meeting would take place on 'October 32nd' or something of the sort.

"Now, Ma'am," Grace answered. Alice shot bolt upright. "Now?" she questioned.

"More like three minutes ago. It was all the warning I got. The Grand Witch suddenly woke up from a nap, glanced at the moon, and said, 'I demand the presence of my advisor, whoever it may be this century,'" Grace supplied.

Alice turned a questioning look on her advisor. That'd almost sounded… sane. Which was something Morgan Le 'Fay had not been for roughly twelve hundred years. Alice could remember the time her teacher, The Grand Witch herself, had taught her to unconsciously deflect physical missiles by pelting her with ping pong balls. Or the time she had used a rubber band and a transmutation spell to create a little hard rubber spoon, which she had promptly used to fire broccoli at Alice, her hapless apprentice. Or the time she'd used a cloud of chalk powder and told Alice to used it as a useful base for a disguise spell. That had been particularly humiliating when she eventually found out what she had looked like.

"Well, she also said right after that, 'Get me a deep fried banana bacon sandwich, with extra on the barbeque sauce. Still, I thought I should give you a heads up. No doubt a guard or messenger will be along momentarily to get you, Ma'am," Grace elaborated swiftly as she turned her back to look out the balcony at the moon. Alice quickly changed into her usual dress, a long black dress with a twisting line of scales that went up around the side of the dress. Her animal, the Eel. The black dress, if felt, would be a cold, but metalhard scale slip-on. It went well with her twin blond hair braids that went down past her neck to her elbows. Little did anyone know she ran a thin metal wire through her hair, so that if anyone but her touched her hair they'd receive the nastiest electric shock they'd ever felt before. Alice could use her magical eel familiar powers to generate enough power to keep all of New York powered for about twelve seconds. (She refused to accept such an effort would probably killer her)

"And you couldn't get here sooner?" Alice snapped angrily as she washed her hair, totally immune to her own electric powers.

"I'm sorry Ma'am, I got here as fast as I could. I used every shortcut you showed me. But I'm a moth, not a Bird Clan. I levitate, not really fly," Grace reminded.

Alice felt a bit bad and figured it wouldn't do to upset Grace. She needed all the loyalty she could get. "I'm sorry," Alice told her assistant as she slipped her weapon of choice into a secret pocket in the wrist of her long flowing sleeves. A simple metal handle, without a blade. Alice had no need for a blade, instead using the metal to charge the air with electricity, creating an electric blade in the air. Her reach could extend up to twelve feet, and if she focused, she could use her powers as a whip instead of a sword.

Grace turned to face the door at the same time Alice did, both of them sensing through their similar electrical sensing powers that a living breathing human man stood outside their door. Both of them could tell the man was sweating profusely, shaking in his shoes, and about to pass out from fear. Grace turned to raise an eyebrow at Alice, who merely made a face and shrugged. She hadn't done anything to inspire so much fear in any of the castle staff. Maybe they had learned of one of her deeds to one of her various competitors? Unlikely, but she might need to re-evaluate some loose ends.

"Oh just knock already," Alice announced clearly. Grace flew out the window, disappearing into the night as she headed to her cover job. It wouldn't do for Grace to be discovered in the company of Alice. Officially Grace served one of Alice's older competitors. And, powerful as Alice was, she was no seer, so she had to act sometimes like she didn't know the things Grace delivered, so as to not arouse suspicion.

"T-t-the G-g-gr-Grand E-Elder W-Witch has summoned for you, High Advisor," the fearful man managed to stutter out.

"Is it my presence or the stories you've heard of me that makes you tremble so, morsel?" Alice asked threateningly, sliding her tongue out to intimidate the hapless man. "Ter-rrifying as you are, ma'am, the Grand Elder Witch is why I'm so afraid. She's on the warpath!" the servant cried in fear before scurrying off in the direction away from the throne room. Shortly afterwards, an explosion rocked the castle. This was not normal, not at all. Several decades of dust rattled from the ceiling. Outside her room, the moon in the sky laughed louder. Alice had time to spare only one glare at the moon for knowing whatever the cause was and not telling her before another explosion rocked the palace and Alice picket up her dress hem and ran towards the source.

* * *

Reyna and Minerva stopped by the forests of their homeland in the removed Witch dimension. Each type of animal had a home, and the home of the Bird Clan was the high perched treetops of Sherwood, as it was called. Not the real place, but named after it. The trees were much nicer, in the removed Witch Dimension. The two had taken a gate into the side length world, removed and yet connected to the real world; held apart by the sheer power of Morgan Le Fay's presence, and the many, many enchantments of the greatest witches and wizards to ever live. They stopped by their home, redressed, treated some small cuts and bruises, and headed to the Castle to report. The entire witch world was a few hundred miles long, with a mostly forested surface on the rock plate that floated in the nothingness. The elders past had removed a tectonic plate from earth, and used that to build on in their own dimension, now the Witch's Dimension. Pluto would kill to get here, though it was rumored he had his own world like this.

The large castle towered up into the sky, where the moon occupied the sky currently. Even through the dimensional wall, they could see the rise and lowering of the two celestial bodies. Just as the two women touched down, the castle shook. Trading looks, the two quickly entered. In the grand hall, which over looked the main gate, was the throne room, where Morgan Le Fay normally napped lazily. She was an old lady, and her power had seen witch kind through some tough times. Reyna had always thought Morgan deserved to sleep if she wanted to do so. Like all of the Bird Clan, Reyna looked up to Morgan as an idol and for leadership. As the princess of the Bird Clan, she looked up to Morgan even more because she could see how tough leading was. And it was going to get tougher the older she got. How the Grand Witch and her colleagues had combined the Insect Kingdom, Mammal Tribes, Reptile Republic, Bird Clan, and all the rest of the organized witch families was beyond her. Morgan could sleep as much as she wanted.

If some poor fool woke Morgan, Reyna would there to punish the offender, likely with every other fan of the Grand Witch, as in, most of the witch kingdom. As Minerva and Reyna flew up into the throne room, they were surprised by all the people and witches present. It seemed most of the castle had congregated. But most shocking of all this, was Morgan Le Fay. She was sitting straight up in the throne, back straight and eye glaring outwards at everyone, scrutinizing them on a magical and mundane level. Morgan could no doubt see souls.

Alice, the Grand Advisor, hurried into the room, carrying her dress's length. Reyna knew her by reputation, and supposedly she was a powerful fighter. Of course she was, she had been trained by Madam Morgan herself. As for how good she was, Reyna hoped to one day see for herself. Alice quickly hurried to Morgan's side. Reyna looked around for what had exploded. A pile of ash lay at the Grand Witches feet. A charbroiled and burnt body twitched on the rug. Whoever that was, would live. They'd get the best healers they had on the case, right away.

Morgan took note of her adviser as soon as she arrived. She scrutinized her with her one remaining eye, form out under her wide broad hat and cloak. What little of her skin showed was wrinkled and yellowed with age, like parchment. "Who are you?" Morgan asked Alice without preamble. For a moment Alice looked both hurt and confused before she replied carefully.

"I am the Grand Advisor, Mentor. You trained me and raised me mostly by yourself since I was a little girl," Alice carefully put forth. Morgan scoffed.

"As if I'd ever raise anybody. But I can see your twisted soul. Seems that if I raised you I've done a right bum job of it, which would explain it!" Morgan announced cruelly.

Alice looked like she had just witnessed the death of a beloved pet. Reyna wracked her mind as she alighted in the rafters with Minerva of a time the Grand Witch had ever been like this. She seemed so coherent, so lucid now, it was actually a little startling. Try as she might, Reyna had not a single memory of a time the Witch was anything less than a pranking, mischievous, old woman with the mind of a child. Never before had she been this belligerent prideful old hag with a temple and a bitter tongue.

"It has come to my attention that roughly eighteen years ago we witches assisted Stygian Hall is the defeat of the insanity god Asura," Morgan began. That got everyone's attention. The battle had been hard fought, a combined legion of witches and Stygian students and deaths weapons against the great chaos and madness god Asura. The giant had not gone down easily, but they had done it, they had well and truly killed the god. They'd proved it could be done.

"And it has also come to my attention the moment Asura's head hit the ground, Stygian betrayed us, before his body had even had collapsed and his soul exposed, the death weapons struck out at us witches, whom had been willing to set aside thousands of years of war and hatred to save the planet and combine with Stygian to stop madness. And we did nothing!?" Morgan shrieked, actually standing up in her throne and glared out at Alice and the crowd of witches.

"But… Ma'am. We wanted to fight. We were willing to destroy every Stygian operative, student, or graduate on the planet. We asked you to announce war, and you… you wouldn't even hear it. You said we deserved it, that we had angered the forces of nature. That it was a curse from on old by the elders. That we were to endure it and do nothing!" Alice answered, scared but defiant. "My, my daughter. My own daughter was killed in the fight! I wanted to go, to head the fight, to rip down every brick in Stygian, and you told us that we would not act. For the past eighteen years, every witch who lived through the fight, that lost someone, that knew someone who lost someone… nay, every witch not born since the battle was willing to lay down their lives and fight. And you didn't want to let us go!" Alice practically screamed at the Grand Witch. Morgan watched her passively, utterly uncaring. This was not the leader they knew.

"Then you have my permission to engage in war now. I want to avenge every death of ours avenged in full! Take a life for every brother, mother, sister, friend, son, aunt, uncle, or familiar killed! The only good Stygian is a dead Stygian!" Morgan snarled at Alice and the crowd. For a moment everything was still. Then the war cries broke out, every witch taking off their hats and throwing in the air, howling, shrieking, and ululating in great cries.

_**"BUT!"**_ Morgan cried out over the crowd. Tense, the crowd went silent. "We're going to do it in low war. I want an elite team of the best of the best! I want Stygian Hall Lower and Higher to be cracked open like an egg by no more than the best of us, where upon the rest of us will emerge to crush the remains, stamp out the resistance, overthrow Stygian global, and take over the world! Never again will my people be oppressed, forced to hide their gifts and talents because of the suspicions of a fearful world!" Morgan cried. The crowd immediately began debating who would be picked.

Alice, beside the Grand Witch, smiled, and turned towards Morgan Le Fay, but the Grand Elder Witches eye met the Eel witch's eyes and Alice had to take a step back. "You. You will lead the elite cell. You have until tomorrow to decide who will accompany you!" Morgan announced. "And if you return before you complete your goal, you will be killed. After tomorrow, you are banished!" Morgan cried fiercely.

* * *

Chuck pulled up to the city limits and stopped for a moment, to let the tired Revan peek at the city. An enormous circle, the outer city had high walls that stretched up over the city. The higher the walls, the better. The desert sandstorms were kept out better by high walls. The city grew on a mountain, in a conical form. The lower city housed up to about halfway of the massive school, which towered into the sky. The highest peak of the tower raised a large black flag with a white scythe and bones on it, below an ivory throne. The school was mostly red and white, and two enormous candles, each as tall as towers, reached into the sky with fireballs as big as the golem beside Revan lit.

"That's Stygian. It houses roughly six thousand people, students, teachers, civilians, family. It has lasted for roughly nine hundred years against witch, kishin, god, human, and on one occasion, leprechaun invasions. It is the primary base of location of the Reaper family, origin of the weapon meister combination. It rests on hallowed ground, receives tribute from every major country in the world, and in turn, protects the entire world from your ilk," Chuck called back to Revan.

"Screw you, the witch dimension is twice as nice! It's not in the freakin' desert!" Revan yelled back at Chuck. Chuck slammed his foot on the gas, and Revan (who had been kneeling) was thrown onto his side, where he curled up and hugged his middle. Chuck drove straight through the open gates, which closed behind him. Chuck kept driving to the middle of the city, taking back roads until he reached a large industrial titanium reinforced door that could easily fit a small cruise ship through its doors. The doors opened just wide enough for Chuck's bigger-than-normal truck to pass through.

It was a pretty long tunnel which led to a large underground cavern. They must've been under Stygian Hall Superior, under the school. Deep under the earth. Revan instantly hated it, feeling far more trapped than a human should've.

"What happens now?" Revan asked Chuck as the car pulled to a stop.

"Now, we see if either of you need urgent medical attention. If not, you get a cell each until tomorrow, when you'll probably be met by Lord Pluto. Kid, he's my boss. And I can't say I envy you," Chuck announced as he grabbed Henry and handed him to Regulus. "Leila, go report your mission. Govar! Grab the unconscious one. Be **gentle**!" Chuck commanded. The massive golem, Govar, climbed out of the back of the pickup, opened the back cab doors with a finger and thumb (and ripping a whole bunch of paint off in the process, as well as part of the door handle) before he reached in with one hand to grab Adan and cradle him in one arm. Regulus led the way, Chuck with a strong hold on Revan's shoulder.

"I'm not running anywhere with a broken rib," Revan complained loudly to Chuck.

"Broken rib? What happened?" Chuck asked, with only a little curiosity. He didn't loosen his grip any.

"Fire head kicked me, that's what!" Revan exclaimed indignantly.

"You probably deserved it," Chuck automatically replied.

"You're biased!" Revan argued back. Chuck glanced down at him.

"Yeah I am. Witches screw up the world," Chuck answered easily.

"Asura was around long before the witches were. Nobody is sure of his origin," Revan countered.

"He's dead and gone. Witches still run wild," Chuck firmly pressed. Revan decided it in his best interests to quit arguing with the hulking man. As they travelled up, the tunnels gradually changed from smooth underground tan to dungeon grey.

"Your secret facilities are _under_ your dungeon?" Revan asked incredulously.

"And then there's the deep dungeons. But you haven't shown you deserve that. Not as proven yet," Chuck replied.

They travelled upwards until they were right under the school. Here, some of the nicer cells were located. Revan was placed in one. Adan was put in another one. Chuck spent a little while thinking before he put Henry in yet a third cell. Finally Chuck turned to Govar. "Govar. Stand guard until Scrapheap arrives," Chuck ordered. The golem gave no sign it recognized the order, but Chuck and Regulus stalked off anyways.

Revan eyed the door. If he wanted to, he could get it open without much hassle. But Govar was out there, he was injured, and there was no room to evade in the hall. He'd be throwing himself from the pan into the fire. Instead Revan lay down on the bed and began digging through his pockets as a way to pass the time. He found a mint candy in one, and was sucking on it when the golem Scrapheap arrived. Scrapheap was smaller than Govar, only about as tall as Revan, leaving the Golem unfortunately short compared to Govar or even Chuck. Govar wandered off the way Scrapheap came from.

Revan pressed up against the bars to look at Scrapheap. The smaller golem was modeled after what appeared to be a dwarf. A thick stumpy body had large, powerful arms, dexterous hands, short stumpy legs, and a simple mesh (mail) armor over the body. Unlike Govar, Scrapheap had elbow and knee joints. The armor was partly woven _into_ the clay, as if when it was wet Chuck had spread the clay over the chains and then let it dry into shape. It seemed likely. Scrapheap wore a large crossbow on his back, and it looked like both his hands were on joints that would allow them to unlatch and fall downwards. What was in the arms, Revan had no clue. A large joint on the chest, right over the heart on a human would be, showed a spot where the golem could open up. Whatever was inside was probably also a weapon. Revan sat back and thought. If he'd built it… there would be missiles in the chest, seeing as Scrapheap seemed to be a medium to close range golem. Revan closely inspected the torso, and saw that sure enough, it looked like part of the chest moved inwards and then split into twin doors. As for the wrists, he'd either put a bolt launcher in there, or a small gun of some sort. It made sense.

Revan observed carefully. Scrapheap might not be human, but Revan hadn't lived this long by underestimating his enemies or by not bothering to locate their hidden weapons. So Scrapheap had missiles in his chest, guns in his wrists, a massive crossbow on his back, a ceramic dagger at his waist, a ceramic short sword hidden, disguised as part of his leg. He also had whatever was in his heart slot, and then something poked out from the chain mail in the back, under the crossbow.

A door at the end of the hall slammed shut loudly. Revan jumped, startled. He poked his head out the metal bars and looked down the hall. Strolling towards him calmly, cheerfully whistling a tune was young man in a lab coat. He had pure white hair that stood up on its frilly ends in the only permanent electric afro he'd ever seen. The man couldn't have been any older than twenty two. Square glasses reflected light sinisterly, shielding his eyes. He was smoking a cigarette as he walked the smoke a deep green color for some bizarre reason. His face had a long scar running down from his forehead, over the bridge of his nose, down the left side of his face, and ended on his cheek. He walked with a distinct limp. Revan examined his knee and caught a glimpse of a brassy color around his knee. Metal, on his leg? His lab coat was bloodied, the hem torn and frayed. A great deal of stitches went over the whole coat. From the way the white coat held its form, Revan suspected hitting it would be like hitting something harder than just fabric. The coat, besides his stitches holding it together, was _absolutely covered_ in miniscule messy writing. Equations, symbols, elements, numbers, and alchemic circles? Just looking at it made his head hurt. A strip of metal rested on his forehead, with two revolving platforms geared together with all sort of tubes coming off them. The most prominent appeared to be a microscope. How clever, welding goggles with other apps. The crazy man limped down the hall, and eventually drew out what he was playing with in his coat pocket. A scalpel, made of bone. Revan began trembling uncontrollably. He knew this person by rumor alone.

This was Ein. Ein Stein. Pluto's attack dog, on a long leash. Ein was one of the most dangerous mortals alive on the planet. The rumors about him were too crazy to be true, but seeing him now, Revan felt each thing he heard to be accurate. Ein was the son of a great Stygian war hero, a doctor of repute who had gone mad during the battle with Asura. He went so mad he began attacking witches, kishins, students, soldiers, death weapons. Anything that had a soul became his prey. He had to be put down by the great Stygian assassin. His son was said to be just as mad as the doctor before he encountered Asura. Ein killed all his foes, only after he had figured out everything he could about them. He carried out inhumane experiments, and Pluto looked the other way. Ein had been struck by lightning thirteen times, and his hair was permanently static charged. Ein had sawed off his own leg, and attached a metal one. Ein had removed one of his ribs, and made a matching set of surgery equipment out of the bone. Ein had killed three witches by removing their souls while they were still alive. Ein's preferred method of execution was vivisection without anesthetics. Ein could kill a grown man with just a tap in the right place. Ein had transformed his own soul, ripped it up, and put it back together again. Ein could throw electricity. Ein created an addicting drug he smoked that allowed him to breath green smoke.

Revan could tell most of the rumors to be true. Ein certainly didn't look like much. He was so thin and unhealthy looking that it seemed if you tapped him too hard his spine would break. But one of the rumors was Ein surgically modified his own bones and armor clad them. From how heavy Ein echoed when he walked, Revan could definitely tell that Ein simply could not weigh as much as he did. Another rumor said he had built a seeing eye device he carried always that allowed him eight different kinds of vision. Well, there was the goggles on his head, four tubes to look through on each rotating platform. Ein had a scalpel in his hand. Made of bone. Human bone. Revan had seen enough of it to tell. As for if it was Ein's or not, he hadn't any idea.

Ein stopped right outside his cell, looking down the hall in front of him absently. He took a long drag on his death stick before turning and blowing the green smoke right into Revan's cell. Revan only inhaled a little smoke, but it was potent stuff. He collapsed, his knee's giving out, fear overriding his head. Ein looked in at him and began to speak, but Revan couldn't hear him over his rushing blood. 'Calm down!' Revan told himself. He'd been in situations worse than this. Probably. Focus, listen, _wait._ Revan opened his eyes and looke dup at Ein, who looked down on him.

"I am Ein Stein. Do you know what that means?" Ein asked mildly. He sounded normal. Friendly, even. Revan shook his head. A long smile crept up Ein's face, showing triangular, shark like teeth.

"_It means it's time for __**surgery**_!" Ein growled out gleefully. Revan passed out from fear.

* * *

Alice stood before the Grand Witch. Morgan Le Fay had lost her scarce sanity again, instead returning to a kindly, batty old witch without a evil bone in her body. Yet still, she held Alice strong to her threat for some reason. Alice stood in front of the whole of the castle staff, in front of the throne. She was nervously shifting under the intense scrutiny of her fellow witches and their servants.

"So, sweety! Have you picked out who you wanna take with you?" Morgan asked kindly as she looked down on Alice from her throne with an air of childish excitement.

"I'd really just rather not go. I want revenge, but I recognize I'd do more good from here, directing," Alice announced petulantly.

"Sorry, no can do! The witch cell will need your leadership and lack of morals!" Morgan announced cheerfully.

"Normally that's a bad thing..?"

"Ah, but they're why I chose you, and let you get so close to me!" Morgan announced. Alice cringed, reminded of last night's harsh outburst.

"You never really did say who I could and could not take, Mistress Le Fay,' Alice announced carefully.

"Oh, you can have anyone that isn't me. You can't return home, but feel free to ask for things or people! And you can have anyone that isn't me!" Morgan Le Fay announced. Some people shifted. The collective had as much idea as Alice did about who really counted as 'anyone'.

"Anyone?" Alice asked.

"Anyone!" Morgan cheerfully reaffirmed.

"So, if I wanted to, I could take every witch?"

"Yup! Just not me!"

"I could ask for every head of every clan?"

"And you'd get 'em!" Morgan explained.

"What about supplies?" Alice questioned.

"You get what you want!" Morgan Le Fay answered.

"I'm not really sure you know what you mean, Ma'am. I could walk out of here and you might realize you let me take something or someone you needed. I don't think you're in the right mind at the moment to be making these kinds of decisions, Ma'am," Alice criticized.

"Nope! You can have anyone or anything that isn't me or my personal stash!" Morgan rebutted. Alice visibly deflated. She had been hoping to take some of her teacher's artifacts.

"What if I asked for access to experimental equipment, information, or restricted personnel?"

At this Morgan's face became thoughtful. "I'll have to see what you mean. We're not Stygian. We're not going to give you the deadliest things on the planet and tell you to go kill people or commit horrendous war crimes. I don't want a repeat of the reincarnation augmentation experiment," Morgan explained carefully.

"I want Grace Moth," Alice announced, eyeing her faithful servant and friend. Grace gave her thumbs up. She would support Alice. The Grand Witch didn't even blink as she announced, "Done!"

Alice considered for a moment longer. "I want the Treasure Artifact Hunter, the Bat Witch Shawna. Her stealth and infiltration is likely to useful, as well as her scouting and fighting capabilities," Alice announced.

"Deal! You don't need to say why, just tell me who you want!" Morgan announced cheerfully.

"I want Elma the Tortoise Witch!" Alice asked. The crowd shifted and debated. Elma was a strange choice, and not well known.

"Deal!"

"I want Kona, the Orca Witch!" Alice listed off. The crowd nodded and speculated. Kona's powers were great, but she wasn't a fighter, and she wasn't useful on land, and Stygian was in the middle of the desert.

"Deal!" The Grand Elder Witch rang back.

"I want Tyra the Wolverine Witch!" Alice called out. A whole section of the crowd stood and stomped their feet and hooted. The Mammal Clan leaders, who knew Tyra well.

"Done! Be careful though, she might not be the stealthiest of your members for all her power," The Grand Witch pointed out. Alice nodded.

Alice rubbed her chin with a long sleeve thoughtfully.

"I want Madam Lizzie," Alice announced. A hush settled across the court.

"Done deal! Please, get rid of my other side thorns too!" Morgan announced happily. Alice took a moment to ponder what a side thorn was before making up her mind.

Emboldened by the grant of Madam Lizzie, Alice made up her mind about her next conquest. "I want project WarFox and project Reflective Sword! As well as all information pertaining to their respective experiments!" Alice asked bravely.

A general gasp went up around the room. "You presume too much!" The Flamingo witch, one of her competitors announced from the other side of the room. She was really French, so it sounded more like "Youzze prezzioum tzoo mutzz!"

"Deal!" Morgan Le Fey announced cheerfully. The entire room stared blankly at their leader.

"Just like that?" Alice asked.

"I mean it. Please. Those experiments went on behind our backs as a whole, for use in this war. Seeing as I killed ever researcher or scientist on the projects that I could get my hands on, it'd be a shame that they would just go to waste. At least those two will get to see the world!" Morgan Le Fay announced vaguely.

"I want access to project Homunculus," Alice asked.

"Sure. But he's not done just yet. You'll have to wait a little while," Morgan announced. Morgan's eye focused on something behind Alice, and the Eel Witch turned to look over her shoulder.

"I've made arrangements. My mother, Rene the Osprey Witch will head the clan while I am away, even past my date of inheritance. I request that my cousin Minerva and I will be allowed to join you on your mission!" Reyna announced boldly. Minerva stood beside her, looking for all the world, bored.

"Sure," Alice answered before she even gave it any thought. Reyna smiled and retreated behind Alice again. Minerva however, took a step forward.

"Grand Witch, have you been paying attention to the requests put forth to you?" Minerva asked flatly. Though she bore no inflection in her tone, the crowd went silent. Nobody talked back to Morgan.

"Yup! I know exactly what I'm giving Alice here!" Morgan answered earnestly.

"Then on behalf of Alice, Eel Witch, I would like to request the release of Prisoner Zero to join us on our mission," Minerva announced boldly. Immediately at the mention of the dreaded Prisoner Zero, the entire room went into an uproar. Morgan let them scream and roar themselves horse for a minute before she held up her hand. The room went as silent as the grave.

"Release Prisoner Zero!" she announced just as cheerfully as before.

"But! Your Ladyship!" The Queen Bee Witch, ruler of the Insect Kingdom witches cried out.

"Are you arguing?" Morgan asked in a confused tone. The Bee Witch found herself unable to speak, so terror struck as she was. Instead, she gaped like a fish and shook her head no madly.

"I think you're arguing!" Morgan Le Fay announced, raising an arm. In a flash, a blazing fireball the size of a basketball launched from her finger tips. The crowd dived out of the way, and the sphere slammed into the marble, charring it and pitting the surface. Alice stared in awe, proud of her mentor. It was always cool to see your teacher in action. Morgan didn't seem to care that she hadn't hit her target. She probably hadn't meant to, or the Bee Witch would be little more than a burned pile of bones.

"That all?" Morgan asked Alice. Alice could only nod dumbly, stupefied.

"Good, good! We'll take until tomorrow to gather up everything and everyone! And remember! You're responsible for Prisoner Zero, Reynard, Madam Lizzie, Shawna, Gail, Reyna, Minerva, and Huey and Clarent now!" Morgan reminded her. Suddenly the world seemed a lot more dangerous again. And most of her choices were the prodigal youth of the next witch generation. Fun.

* * *

Revan woke to see he was still in the dungeon room. The same, bland grey walls met his tired eyes, the same bolted down bed and crusty old grey dresser with its nearly impossible to open (and empty) drawers met his sight. Nobody was in the room with him. It seemed the only change in sight was that part of the metal bar door had been bent towards the bottom. It almost looked like someone's head had been used to dent the metal bars.

"Revan! You're awake!" Adan's bright chipper voice called form across the hall. Revan jumped in surprise and nearly hit the bed as he spun towards the source of the noise, thoughtlessly assuming a defensive stance. Across the hall, Adan laughed at him. Revan let out a breath and relaxed himself before moving to the bars.

"It's good to see you awake. I thought you were dead a couple times there for sure," Revan admitted.

"Well, I thought that crazy doctor guy with the green breath was going to get you!" Adan responded happily. A chill ran down Revan's spine as he thought of Ein. "But that little guy over there saved you! Got all mad and chased the lab coat off!" Adan announced as he glanced at the stationary golem outside his bars appreciatively.

"Adan. Listen to me. It's very important. That was Ein Stein, the guy who we hear all those horror stories about. And we're locked up in Stygian. Stygian Hall Superior, the place all the Kishin and Witch slayers come from. They already know what we are, so we need to be on our best behavior. Got it?" Revan told his less intelligent companion.

"I know. Henry all ready told me everything that happened after I got knocked out. You beat Reyna!"

"And then I got beat by two uppity idiots who've had everything given to them on a silver platter!" Revan growled out, mad at himself.

"Hey, I got beat too, and I didn't even fight Reyna," Henry called. The little white cat was sitting at his bars, his white hat and white fur once again meticulously clean. No matter how badly he got hurt, how tired he was, or how much they needed to be stealthy, Henry was always clean when they woke up. The sun rose in the sky, grass was green, birds fly, and Henry was as clean as a hospital when you woke up.

"I thought you were sleeping!" Adan called to Henry, whose cell was out of his sight on his right.

"I was, until you two woke me up," Henry groused.

"I thought Henry told you everything?"

"That was yesterday. I woke up like right after you passed out. Henry told me so. It's tomorrow! Or uhhh, yesterday was yesterday. Today is today. You passed out yesterday," Adan completed foolishly. Henry snickered under his breath, and Adan looked sheepish. Revan sighed. How were a useless crow mage, a bumbling ginger lion warlock, and a perverted cat going to earn a pardon for the high crime of magic from Pluto?

"The little robot-" Adan began, pointing at Scrapheap.

"It's a golem, Adan," Revan corrected automatically.

"Anyways, when Ein began to pick the lock on your door the little golem pulled out a meat cleaver and rushed him. Ein ran off with Scrapheap after him. Scrapheap came back a little while later. Since the golem doesn't or won't talk, I don't know how smart it is," Adan admitted.

"It's a golem. Probably not very intelligent at all," Revan observed aloud, looking at the ceiling. Outside their view, Scrapheap gave Revan's cell a hard glare and turned its pointy clay nose away in disgust.

"When we went through the golem village, you know, Loew, there weren't many intelligent golems. Or at least, not any that we saw. And we spent a long time hiding there with the enchanters. When the Ferret witch caught us there, we hid inside a golem, and it walked us right out the city when we asked it to. They're mostly built to take orders, not have political opinions," Revan voiced as he examined the corners of the room and tried to move the dresser.

"Well, it might've just been a kind golem!" Adan announced defensively.

"Always a possibility," Revan agreed as he started knocking on individual bricks on the wall.

"What're you doing?" Adan asked.

"Looking for a loose brick, hoping to activate a hidden switch, maybe find a hollow wall," Revan announced as he put his ear to the wall and listened.

"You're paranoia is getting to you. Again. Listen, there's no hidden tunnel in your cell. It was just the one time!" Adan told Revan.

"Always a possibility," Revan announced, though he clearly didn't agree with Adan.

"You and your possibilities. Stop knocking on the wall. You're going to give me a headache," Henry mewed grumpily.

Revan's knuckles rapped on a wall, and he put his ear to it and listened. "I think I hear something. It sounds like… digging?" Revan asked as he backed away from the wall. The cell door opened suddenly, and Scrapheap stormed inside before closing the door behind him. Scrap walked over to the wall and put a doctor's stethoscope up to the wall, listening intently. Revan considered jumping the guard, but decided against it. If Scrapheap could make Ein run off, he'd rather not fight the golem.

Scrapheap nodded to itself before grabbing Revan roughly by the arm and dragging him out of the cell with him. Scrapheap opened up the next cell and shoved him into that one before locking him in. The prison room was identical to the last one. Scrapheap went back to his first cell.

"What's it doing?" Revan asked Henry in a whisper.

"It's standing in the corner and waiting beside that wall you were talking about," Henry announced after a moment, foregoing a whisper, instead using a loud, obvious tone. Scrapheap held a finger up to his carved lips before he turned his head back to the wall.

"So he doesn't want us to be loud,' Henry mused.

"And you said my paranoia was useless," Revan grumbled. Adan shrugged and continued to watch the golem. They watched the golem with interest for a minute before they slowly lost interest, one by one. Only Henry watched the golem, with half lidded eyes. But his ears twitched and worked quickly.

"You were right. Someone is digging on the other side of the wall. Scrapheap could reach out and grab them right about now," Henry said quietly. Another few moments later and Scrapheap slowly twisted his arm back. Then he plunged his arm through the wall like it was butter. There was a muffled yell before Scrapheap roughly withdrew his arm.

Bringing most of the wall down with him, Scrapheaps arm came back through, his grip firmly clamped on the protesting white clad form of Ein Stein. A sharpened shovel, with an edge that looked like it could kill, was clamped tightly in Ein's other hand. He also wore a backpack, which Scrapheap quickly confiscated. Scrapheap hauled the doctor (who was trying to wriggle out of Scrapheap's grasp) into yet another empty cell down the hall. Scrapheap emerged a moment later, throwing Ein's fake brass leg, coat, goggles, and a dissection kit onto the bed in the other room. The coat concealed a second dissection kit. Scrapheap then dumped the entire backpack out. Blood bags, a microscope, handcuffs, a (third) dissection kit, IV drips, anesthetics, duct tape, spare (bloodied) scalpels, a hack saw, a car battery (complete with alligator clamps and wires), matches, a power drill, a spoon, a red bull, and finally, a wooden stick covered in bite marks.

"That's my full dissection assembly!" Ein yelled in outrage.

Revan thought he might pass out.

"What's with the wooden stick?" Adan asked.

"I've seen those before. That's a gag for you to bite on when you're in a lot of pain," Henry announced darkly as he glared at Ein's cell.

"How do you know of something like that?" Adan asked, confused. Henry's dark smile turned into a lewd one.

"Well you see, sometimes guy's prefer the back door, so-"

"Shut up cat!" Reven cut him off.

"How informed of you! Tell me, how are a cat's vocal cords able to mimic a human's vocal cords? How is your little brain able to comprehend the world at a human level of intelligence? Why are you pure white? Are you an albino? No, you don't have red eyes. Perhaps as a kitten someone dunked you in bleach? Hmm. Pure white cats with blue eyes have an increased chance of deafness. I wonder why? Tell me, why is that?" Ein rattled out like a madman.

"I, what?" Henry asked in surprise.

"Let's find out together!" Ein screamed as he rammed himself up against the bars in a mad attempt to get out. He had procured another scalpel from somewhere and was waving it so madly he almost threw it.

Henry hissed and fled to the back of his cell as both Revan and Adan moved away from the truly mad doctor.

Scrapheap caught Ein's hand and stole the scalpel from his grip. Ein produced an Erlenmeyer flask of a clear liquid. The top was corked firmly with a rubber stopper. Ein smashed the bottle on Scrapheap, who backed off quickly.

"Water is dangerous to golems?" Adan asked hesitantly.

"Only to clay ones, surely. Rock would be fine, so long as the animating factor was no damaged. But that wasn't water!" Ein screamed crazily as Scrapheap's front began to smoke. Ein played with the pinky on his left hand, and a moment later he removed it completely to reveal it to be fake. His left pinky had been smoothly cut off a long time ago, and instead white scar tissue covered the smooth spot. From inside the fake pinky Ein withdrew a small screwdriver, which he used to pick the Stygian lock in several jerky motions. A moment later Scrapheap collapsed outside, leaning on the hall. The front of him had been washed clean of his mesh, and the edges looked like something had ripped it away. Part of the clay under that had evaporated, leaving a small hole in his hollow middle. Brass gears inside had been burnt away. Ein ran to the cell with his stuff and broke into it too before pulling his coat on. A radio in his pocket squawked on, and his manic smile was replaced with an unhappy frown. He put away everything in a hurry and ran back into the hall.

He stopped by the three other inmates. "I'll see you some other time. For now, I'll retreat," Ein declared before he turned and sprinted off. A moment later some men rushed down the hall. Chuck and someone he didn't recognize surveyed the scene. "I'd say it was probably Ein. The crazy bastard seems to have invaded the cell with the first warlock in it. No blood splatters from there. Usually a bad sign," the man quickly rattled off.

How bad was there _not_ being blood stains compared to there _being_ blood stains? Revan didn't want to find out. "We're here! All three of us! And yeah, it was Ein!" Adan called shakily from his cell.

"All three of you? Nobody's dead?" the unfamiliar man asked.

"Aww damn it! He melted Scrapheap!" Chuck growled out as he walked over to the busted golem. "Acid? Normally he uses more destructive things. But I can't fix acid with the same materials. I'll have to strip Scrapheap's armor and make a new one entirely. As well as replace the gears!" Chuck groaned as he pulled on his hair.

The first man ignored the irate Chuck as he checked into the cells. Revan got a good look at the man as he passed and shuddered. It was the Pluto's Reaper son. Thanatos. The boy stood close to five ten, and was clad in all black. Deathly pale skin almost glittered under the light. Golden rings for eyes around pitch black pupils. Thanatos was rumored to fight without weapons most of the time, and he was never cruel, but he was just as deadly as Ein. Two white lines wrapped around his hair, going the whole way around. Only the top one was incomplete, covering only the left half of his hair and stopping, ruler straight, in the middle of his forehead. Thanatos spotted him looking and examined them all similarly.

"You all look like underfed street urchins. Why are you so special our top student was willing to spare you?" Thanatos asked them. It was clear from his tone he was not expecting an answer.

"Because we'd've kicked their asses and left if we hadn't just fought of a witch, and they knew it! Who can fight a witch to a draw without killing them and then just leave? _WE_ can!" Adan announced pridefully. Thanatos gave him an airy glare.

"_Can't_ or _won't _kill a witch? It makes no difference now. You still failed to kill her, which is a pity because she got away according to Leila's report. If you'd of killed her, it would've looked much better for you. If you do not have the strength to kill, obtain it. If you do not have the will to kill, obtain it. If you do not have the mind to kill, obtain it. You must seek to be strong!" Thanatos preached to Adan, who looked repulsed.

"Is this what all Reapers are like? I can see how your father is a mass murderer," Adan told him. Thanatos gave him a cool glare. Adan wilted.

"Leave him alone," Revan told Thanatos. The Reaper turned his cold glare on him next, but Revan returned it.

"You didn't come down here just for Ein, or you'd have gone after him. You're here for us. Why?" Revan pointed out slowly. Thanatos smiled darkly.

"I'm to deliver you to my father. He will decide your fate," Thanatos announced before he spun on a heel to look at Chuck, who hoisted Scrapheap up over his shoulder. It looked like a lot, and even Chuck seemed a little off balanced.

"Get them out of their cages," Thanatos demanded of Chuck, who raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't give me orders. I work for your Dad, not you. Do it yourself," Chuck announced before he turned and walked up the hallway, Scrapheap over his shoulder. Thanatos huffed and eyed the bars.

"I refuse to touch those handles. They are unclean and slovenly. Cells are for the lower class!" Thanatos whined as he crossed his arms and huffed. Revan and Adan gave each other 'are you kidding me looks' as they listened to the Reapers rant. Henry, still in cat form walked out straight between the bars to sit at the Reapers feet.

"Oh. It's a cat. How'd you get down here?" Thanatos asked curiously.

"Meow?" Henry asked.

"How silly of me. I am talking to a cat," Thanatos told himself before aiming a halfhearted kick at Henry. "Be gone, lower life form!"

"Screw you too, buddy!" Henry cried as he dodged over Thanatos's foot and ran past him up the hall.

The look on Thanatos's face was priceless.

Sighing at Henry's antics (he did this to everybody they met, speaking to them when they least expected it) both warlocks got up and approached their cells doors. Adan simply opened his cell door. It had not been locked. Revan took a moment with the lock before he too was out, having used a little of his thievery magic to release himself. He only needed the help of a lock pick for tougher locks. Thanatos regarded them in disbelief.

"You could have done that at any time?" he asked, amazed.

"Yes. But there would've been no reason for it. We'd of just been caught again, and Adan was unconscious most of yesterday and last night. As for Henry, he's an escape artist himself," Revan announced as he breezed past Thanatos and walked up the stairs Chuck and Thanatos had used, Adan following closely.

"Halt! You are not fit to come before me!" Thanatos cried as he quickly rushed past them and headed them off.

Both warlocks glared at him. "Revan, how far do you figure it is to Pluto's room?" Adan asked as he regarded the stuck up Reaper.

"Too far. Just too far," Revan mumbled, sighing as he glared up at the ceiling.

Since Henry waited for the two Warlocks and the Reaper to arrive at the top of the stairs, Thanatos led them to the place his father spent most of his time quickly. Thanatos walked at an outrageous speed, and the three of them had to keep breaking into slow jogs to keep up with the tuxedo wearing pale teen. He led them for a brisk four minute walk from the dungeon towards the top of the building, and then back down to what seemed to be the center of Stygian hall Superior, but felt like ground level. A single window in the round room around them displayed they were still high up.

"It's a maze," Thanatos explained vaguely. Upon their questioning looks, he cleared his throat to elaborate. "This room can only be reached by the path I took you on. It prevents students or staff from bothering Father, who likes to issue orders from his room. Only those on a need to know basis will know the exact route. The route is subject to change once too many people know about it. If you live through this, which is very unlikely, we may need to change it again," Thanatos explained in a well informed tone of voice. Adan mocked him, miming his posture and mouth behind his back as Thanatos looked out the window. Revan had little doubt that the window, though it gave a clear view of the famous thousand step stairs that led from Stygian Hall lower (the city) to Stygian Hall Superior, would be impossible to spot from the stairs themselves. "In case of invasion, it also makes it hard to find this room, so we can hide people or things here," Thanatos further elaborated.

To Revan, this all seemed very suspect.

But in a building that housed people who could see you through walls, maybe this privacy was a gift, and not very suspicious. Thanatos turned from the window and walked through the round room to stop in the center. Thirteen statues on pillars held detailed models of the thirteen Roman Gods. Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Minerva, Ceres, Apollo, Diana, Venus, Neptune, Mercury, Vulcan, Bacchus, and finally, Pluto. The room, which had only one entrance, was round, but had fourteen sides, each side, but the hall entrance holding an alcove with a statue on a plinth. The floor was a solid reflective black. Obsidian or maybe Onyx. The very center of the room had a winding staircase with no railing that led downwards, into the floor. Thanatos led them down the steps quickly.

They entered a large room. It almost looked like a great dark cave. The stairs descended straight from the ceiling, and only a single metal spiral around them acted as a railing. Dark grave stones and headstones littered the way off the path. A roof of stalactites hung down on the front far overhead. There was a little black stream with a black rock bridge over it. Since the ground was flat, with no incline, the three didn't see how the water was flowing, but it was making a cheerful noise as it flowed. Light came from the hole in the cave wall, and some ethereal green light from ahead illuminated the cave. Cheerful free floating wisps flew about at high speeds over head, or some lazily floated by. They looked like glowing cotton clumps.

Thanatos led them to the source of the green light. Standing by it gave each person a sense of well being and energy. Revan rubbed his chest and was amazed to find his bruised or broken rib didn't hurt. Adan breathed easier. Henry walked with a returned spring in his step. Thanatos straightened his back even more. As they approached, they could see that the light came from a cobble stone well that came out of the ground, at least three foot high. It was very wide, like a great pool. The light emanated from the well, flowing upwards like the northern lights.

As they approached the green well, there came a sense of great melancholy. "Is it just me, or does this place seem really familiar?" Adan asked. Revan nodded slightly. Thanatos shushed them, like they were in a library. When they were close enough to reach out and touch the well, they all looked down inside. Great green swirling lights lined the sides of the well, shooting outwards to make the swirling lights above them.

"Son. You know better than to lean over the well. If you fell in, your Reaper soul would be ripped apart and diluted into human souls," A cold voice announced from behind them.

Revan and Adan spun, reaching for weapons. Henry hissed and puffed up, claws sliding forwards. Thanatos turned slowly. "I apologize Father. The well of souls is as capturing as ever," Thanatos explained evenly.

Pluto nodded. He was tall, almost as inhumanly tall as Chuck. But he was much less broad shouldered. A billowing purple cloak obscured his entire body. The thin purple material was lined with crossing diagonal white lines without pattern. The cloak seemed to shimmer as it swirled at its hem without cause. His face was hidden behind a pure white mast, one like a venetian carnival mask, or an old timey theater mask. Two sharp corners at the upper left and right of the mask slid into Pluto's purple hood. A single black slit ran across the eyes, but nothing could be seen within the strip. At either end of the eye strip it curled upwards, like he was eye-smiling. The vertical middle of the mask connected in a line, dividing the two symmetrical mask halves.

Everyone but Thanatos shivered just looking at him. Being by the Death God made you feel like you were wet and had just been thrown into twenty degree weather. His hands were obscured by his massive sleeves, both of which nearly touched the ground with their trailing hems. Not being able to see his hands concerned both Adan and Revan. Henry had seemingly frozen in place, puffed up, in mid cat hiss. Pluto had an aura that set you on edge, like being by an un-caged tiger. Your body rapidly sent you into flight or fight response, but at the same time, your body locked up in fear, and your mind shut down. You felt like you were suffocating inside, like his very presence was killing you.

Revan had nearly passed out before Thanatos hit him lightly on the back, snapping him out of it. On Thanatos's other side, Adan hyperventilated until he received a pinch on the back of the hand by the younger Reaper. Revan gave Henry a moment before he reached down and yanked a whisker out. Henry yowled at jumped at Revan, clawing his face. Adan had to pull Henry off. Thanatos slapped a palm to his face. Pluto said nothing and did not move, except for the permanent ripple at the bottom of his cloak. Together the three turned to Lord Pluto.

"You are the three captives, brought to me by Leila and Regulus?" It wasn't a question.

"Actually, Thanatos brought us here!" Adan announced cheerfully. Revan slapped him on the back of the head. Henry sighed.

"Let's begin with their capture…"


End file.
